Adult attachment style and information processing: Individual differences in curiosity and cognitive closure.

Five studies examined the association between adult attachment style and information processing. Studies 1–2 focused on information search (curiosity-related beliefs and behaviors). Studies 3–5 focused on the integration of new information within cognitive structures; namely, the level of cognitive closure and its expressions in social judgments. Secure and anxious–ambivalent persons described themselves as more curious and held more positive attitudes toward curiosity than did avoidant persons. The competition between information search and social interaction increased information search among avoidant persons, but decreased it among anxious–ambivalent persons. Finally, secure persons reported less preference for cognitive closure and were more likely to rely on new information in making social judgments than avoidant and anxious–ambivalent persons. The theoretical implications of the link between attachment and information processing are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring individual differences in reactions to mortality salience: Does attachment style regulate terror management mechanisms?

Five studies examined the contribution of attachment style to mortality salience effects. In Study 1, mortality salience led to more severe judgments of transgressions only among anxious–ambivalent and avoidant persons but not among secure persons. In addition, whereas anxious–ambivalent persons showed immediate and delayed increases in severity judgments, avoidant persons showed this response only after a delay period. In Study 2, anxious–ambivalent persons showed immediate and delayed increases in death-thought accessibility after death reminders. Avoidant and secure persons showed this effect only after a delay period. Study 3 revealed that worldview defense in response to mortality salience reduced death-thought accessibility only among avoidant persons. Studies 4–5 revealed that mortality salience led to an increase in the sense of symbolic immortality as well as in the desire of intimacy only among secure persons, but not among avoidant and anxious–ambivalent persons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of attachment styles on romantic relationships.

Examined the impact of secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment styles on romantic relationships in a longitudinal study involving 144 dating couples. For both men and women, the secure attachment style was associated with greater relationship interdependence, commitment, trust, and satisfaction than were the anxious or avoidant attachment styles. The anxious and avoidant styles were associated with less frequent positive emotions and more frequent negative emotions in the relationship, whereas the reverse was true of the secure style. 6-mo follow-up interviews revealed that, among those individuals who disbanded, avoidant men experienced significantly less post-dissolution emotional distress than did other people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult attachment style and affect regulation: Strategic variations in subjective self–other similarity.

Six studies examined the link between adult attachment style and subjective self–other similarity. In Studies 1–3, data were collected on representations of self–other similarity in the realms of traits and opinions. Studies 4–5 examined the effects of affective inductions on the link between attachment and self–other similarity. Study 6 examined the cognitive maneuvers people differing in attachment style use for changing self–other similarity upon distress arousal. Whereas avoidant persons underestimated self–other similarity and anxious–ambivalent persons overestimated it, secure persons provided more accurate similarity scores. These differences were exacerbated by negative affect and mitigated by positive affect. Insecure persons' distortions resulted from transformations they made in representations of the self and others. Results are discussed in terms of attachment theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment styles and fear of personal death: A case study of affect regulation.

The relation between attachment styles and fear of personal death was assessed. We classified a sample of Israeli undergraduate students into secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment groups and assessed the extent of, and the meaning attached to, overt fear of personal death as well as the extent of fear at a low level of awareness. Ambivalent subjects exhibited stronger overt fear of death than did secure and avoidant subjects, and both ambivalent and avoidant subjects showed stronger fear of death at a low level of awareness than secure subjects. Ambivalent subjects were also more likely to fear the loss of their social identity in death, and avoidant subjects were more likely to fear the unknown nature of their death. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of attachment styles on affect regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment styles, coping strategies, and posttraumatic psychological distress: The impact of the Gulf War in Israel.

Examines the association between adult attachment style and the way people reacted to the Iraqi missile attack on Israel during the Gulf War. 140 Israeli students were interviewed 2 wks after the war and classified according to their attachment style (secure, avoidant, or ambivalent) and residence area (dangerous vs less dangerous). Ambivalent people reported more distress than secure people. Avoidant persons reported higher levels of somatization, hostility, and trauma-related avoidance than secure persons. These results characterized Ss living in dangerous areas. In addition, secure people used relatively more support-seeking strategies in coping with the trauma, ambivalent people used more emotion-focused strategies, and avoidant people used more distancing strategies. Findings are discussed in terms of attachment working models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment style and emotion regulation in dementia patients and their relation to caregiver burden

One hundred and sixty-eight patients with mid- to late-stage dementia and their caregivers participated in a study of the relation between patient emotional characteristics, dementia symptomatology, and caregiver burden. Measures included premorbid attachment style, premorbid emotion regulation style, and behavioral symptoms of dementia. The attachment patterns (secure, avoidant, ambivalent) of these elderly patients resembled those obtained in samples of younger individuals in terms of emotion regulation characteristics; however, the distribution of attachment styles was significantly different, with a lower proportion of ambivalently attached individuals in the present sample. In terms of the behavioral symptoms of dementia, ambivalent patients had more depression and anxiety than secure and avoidant patients; the latter patients experienced more activity disturbance than ambivalently attached individuals and were higher on paranoid symptomatology than securely attached persons. Caregivers of securely attached individuals experienced less total burden than did caregivers of both insecure groups. In regression analysis, attachment style accounted for the largest proportion of unique variance in the prediction of caregiver burden (8%); only 1 of 7 patient symptoms contributed a significant independent effect, namely depressed affect, which accounted for 4% of the variance.     

Attachment style, gender, and relationship stability: A longitudinal analysis.

Examined adult attachment styles in 354 heterosexual couples in serious dating relationships. Principal findings included the following: (1) male and female attachment styles were nonrandomly paired, for example, no anxious–anxious or avoidant–avoidant pairs were found; (2) male and female styles related to concurrent relationship ratings of both partners in different but theoretically meaningful ways; (3) male and female styles contributed significantly to longitudinal prediction of relationship stability and status, even when prior duration and commitment to the relationship were statistically controlled; (4) specifically, relationships of avoidant men and of anxious women were surprisingly stable over 3 years, particularly in light of the relatively poor ratings of these relationships by both partners at Time 1. Discussion focuses on the need to integrate gender role considerations and relationship dynamics and processes into theorizing on adult attachment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When accuracy hurts: Reactions of anxious–ambivalent dating partners to a relationship-threatening situation.

Why are anxious–ambivalent individuals especially likely to have turbulent and unstable relationships? To help answer this question, the authors use 3 theoretical perspectives to examine how heightened empathic accuracy in a relationship-threatening situation is associated with personal and relational distress. Dating couples inferred their partners' thoughts and feelings from a videotaped interaction which they each rated slides of opposite-sex individuals. Highly anxious–ambivalent individuals were more empathically accurate in this relationship-threatening situation; however, their self-reported thoughts and feelings indicated greater distress and less confidence in their partners and relationships. The more anxious–ambivalent women reported a slight decrease in the perceived closeness of the relationships. Four months later, more anxious–ambivalent men's relationships were more likely to have ended. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and applied implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment in individuals with social anxiety disorder: The relationship among adult attachment styles, social anxiety, and depression.

Despite their apparent implications for social functioning, adult attachment styles have never been specifically explored among persons with social anxiety disorder. In the current study, a cluster analysis of the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (N. L. Collins, 1996) revealed that 118 patients with social anxiety (58.6% males and 41.4% females, mean age 32.43 yrs) were best represented by anxious and secure attachment style clusters. Members of the anxious attachment cluster exhibited more severe social anxiety and avoidance, greater depression, greater impairment, and lower life satisfaction than members of the secure attachment cluster. This pattern was replicated in a separate sample of 56 patients and compared with the pattern found in 36 control participants. Social anxiety mediated the association between attachment insecurity and depression. Findings are discussed in the context of their relevance to the etiology, maintenance, and cognitive-behavioral treatment of social anxiety disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process.

This article explores the possibility that romantic love is an attachment process—a biosocial process by which affectional bonds are formed between adult lovers, just as affectional bonds are formed earlier in life between human infants and their parents. Key components of attachment theory, developed by Bowlby, Ainsworth, and others to explain the develoment of affectional bonds in infancy, were translated into terms appropriate to adult romantic love. The translation centered on the three major styles of attachment in infancy—secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent—and on the notion that continuity of relationship style is due in part to mental models (Bowlby's "inner working models") of self and social life. These models, and hence a person's attachment style, are seen as determined in part by childhood relationships with parents. Two questionnaire studies indicated that (a) relative prevalence of the three attachment styles is roughly the same in adulthood as in infancy, (b) the three kinds of adults differ predictably in the way they experience romantic love, and (c) attachment style is related in theoretically meaningful ways to mental models of self and social relationships and to relationship experiences with parents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Support seeking and support giving within couples in an anxiety-provoking situation: The role of attachment styles.

Examined how adult attachment styles moderate spontaneous behavior between dating couples when 1 member of the dyad is confronted with an anxiety-provoking situation. 83 dating couples were unobtrusively videotaped for 5 min in a waiting room while the woman waited to participate in an "activity" known to provoke anxiety in most people. Independent observers then evaluated each partner's behavior on several dimensions. Results revealed that persons with more secure attachment styles behaved differently than persons with more avoidant styles in terms of physical contact, supportive comments, and efforts to seek and give emotional support. Findings are discussed in the context of theory and research on attachment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L'attachment à l'age scolaire et le développement des troubles de comportement.

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the association between the mother–child attachment relationship and behavioural problems among a test group of 120 Francophone Canadian children from mixed social and economic backgrounds. The Strange Situation protocol was used to measure attachment styles when the children were between the ages of 5 and 7 yrs. Each child's behavioural difficulties were assessed by his or her educator or teacher during 3 developmental periods: 3–5 yrs, 5–7 yrs, and 7–9 yrs. Results show that disorganized insecure attachment is associated with an increased risk of developing exteriorized and interiorized behavioural troubles between the ages of 5 and 7. The authors also observed exteriorized behavioural problems among children with anxious-ambivalent attachment, especially in the 3–5 age group. Avoidant children, usually assessed positively, received exteriorization scores during the 5–7 period which were significantly below those of securely attached children. Avoidant boys also exhibited more interiorized symptoms during this time-frame. Analyses of the persistence of behavioural problems also showed increased risk among disorganized and ambivalent children with secure or avoidant attachment styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment styles and repressive defensiveness: The accessibility and architecture of affective memories.

One hundred and twenty Israeli students were classified into secure, avoidant, and anxious-ambivalent attachment groups. They completed scales that tap the construct of repressive defensiveness and recalled early personal experiences of anger, anxiety, sadness, and happiness. Secure people reported moderate defensiveness and low anxiety and had easy access to negative memories without being overwhelmed by the spreading of the dominant emotional tone to nondominant emotions. Anxious ambivalent people were unable to repress negative affects, reported high anxiety, had easy access to negative memories, and could not inhibit emotional spreading. Avoidant people reported high levels of defensiveness and anxiety and showed low accessibility to negative memories. The discussion emphasizes the parallel between a person's interaction with the social world and the makeup of his or her inner world. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment style and family dynamics in young adults.

This study examined the relationship between attachment style and family dynamics in a sample of 238 undergraduates. Participants who were securely attached reported significantly higher levels of adaptability, cohesion, and satisfaction in their family of origin than did avoidant and anxious–ambivalent participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Love and work: An attachment-theoretical perspective.

The possibility that love and work in adulthood are functionally similar to attachment and exploration in infancy and early childhood was investigated. Key components of attachment theory were translated into terms appropriate to adult love and work. The translation centered on the 3 major types of infant attachment and exploration identified by M. D. S. Ainsworth et al (1978): secure, anxious/ambivalent, and avoidant. Two questionnaire studies indicated that relations between adult attachment type and work orientation are similar to attachment/exploration dynamics in infancy and early childhood, suggesting that the dynamics may be similar across the life span. Implications for research on the link between love and work are discussed, as are measurement problems and other issues related to future tests of an attachment-theoretical approach to the study of adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment orientations and depression: A longitudinal study of new parents.

In this longitudinal study, we followed a large sample of first-time parents (both partners) across the first 2 years of the transition to parenthood. Guided by attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969), we tested several predictions about how attachment anxiety and avoidance are related to the incidence, maintenance, increase, and decline of depressive symptoms in both sexes across the first 2 years of the transition. We found that (a) the association between attachment anxiety and depressive symptoms was moderated by factors related to the marital and/or romantic relationship; (b) the association between avoidance and depressive symptoms was moderated by factors related to family responsibilities; (c) styles of caregiving provided by romantic partners affected depressive symptoms differently among anxious and avoidant persons; and (d) in certain predictable situations, depressive symptoms persisted at higher levels or increased to higher levels in anxious or avoidant persons across the 2-year transition period. Important implications of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschoolers' attention to and memory for attachment-relevant information

This study examined the relation between attachment quality in infancy and attention and memory at 3 1/2 years. Sixty-eight children participated in 2 attention tasks and 1 memory task. In the first attention task, children were shown several sets of drawings; each set depicted a different mother-child dyad engaged in positive, negative, and neutral interaction. Insecure/avoidant children looked away from the drawings more than the other children. In the second attention task, children were shown different sets of drawings; each set depicted a mother-child dyad engaged in positive interaction and an adult dyad expressing neutral affect. Insecure/avoidant and insecure/ambivalent children looked away from the mother-child drawings more than the secure children; when children did look at a drawing, insecure children were less likely than secure children to look at the mother-child drawing. In the memory task, children were read 6 stories in which a mother responds to her child's bid for help. In 2 stories the mother responds sensitively to her child, in 2 stories the mother rejects her child, and in 2 stories the mother provides an exaggerated response to her child. Secure children recalled the responsive stories better than insecure/avoidant children and the rejecting stories better than the insecure/ambivalent children. Findings are discussed in terms of the proposition from attachment theory that attachment experiences influence attention and memory processes.     

Insecure attachment moderates women's adjustment to inflammatory bowel disease severity.

Objective: Insecure attachment was explored as a moderator of the relationship between disease severity and psychosocial variables in a study of adjustment in women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Method: Participants were 218 women recruited through notices placed in the community, in gastroenterologists' offices, and through online postings to support groups and message boards specifically for people with Crohn's disease, colitis, or IBD in general. Participants completed a mail-in or online survey assessing severity and frequency of symptoms, attachment style (separated into anxious and avoidant subscales), perceived social support, negative affect, and efficacy of coping with IBD. Results: Anxious and avoidant attachment styles were correlated positively with disease severity and negative affect and negatively with perceived social support and coping efficacy. Hierarchical regressions indicated that disease severity was most strongly associated with negative affect for high avoidant attachment, as compared with moderate and low avoidant attachment. Disease activity was inversely related to perceived social support and coping efficacy for high and moderate, but not low, anxious attachment. Conclusion: Our study indicates that attachment moderates associations between disease severity in women with different kinds of IBD and psychological indicators of adjustment. Limitations and relationship to previous research on attachment and health are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment patterns of infants separated at birth.

The effect of minimal maternal–infant contact and prolonged separation following birth was examined in 29 premature and seriously ill full-term neonates to assess their attachment relationships to their caregivers at approximately 12 mo postgestational age. Ss were classified into the M. D. Ainsworth et al (1978) categories of secure, anxious avoidant, and anxious resistant. Secure vs insecure Ss could not be differentiated on Bayley developmental scores, birth weight, gestational age, days of neonatal intensive care unit hospitalization, or parental visiting patterns. Data suggest that attachment patterns are influenced by maternal–Ss interaction over time and provide evidence for the resiliency of Ss in their formation of attachment patterns. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)